The Political Situation
May 4, 1907
Summary
President Roosevelt appoints a Democrat in charge of being a political referee for the Southland, The Planet believes it is a popularity move and Roosevelt’s close friend Secretary Taft is running for President.
Transcription
The Political Situation.
Two acts of President Roosevelt will stand out as the most remarkable in the history of any administration and will tend to give President Roosevelt a unique standing in the political history of this country.
One of his open endorsation and championship of the candidacy of Secretary of War William H. Taft of Ohio and the other is the naming of Ex-Senator Marion Butler as the political referee for the Southland. Mr. Butler is a Democrat and a Populist. In fact, he is well-nigh everything but a Republican.
Secretary Taft is a jurist with political leaning and his disposition to obey orders has made him a popular favorite with the occupant of the White House. If Mr. Taft is President, the presumption is that President Roosevelt will be President, even though he does not hold the office. At the completion of his term, he will be in the position to use the machinery of the government in a way that will guarantee President Roosevelt’s return to the White House.
Mr. Roosevelt is anxious for a “big fight” and he now has one on his hands. There is not power enough in earth at his disposal to enable him to dominate the next National Republican Convention to the extent of naming a man so close to him as is Secretary Taft. He must go up against the field to do it and Secretary Taft will hold in his hand only the borrowed light of the Chief Executive.
Roosevelt delegates will not stand even a slight scratching before it will be ascertained that there is an anti-Roosevelt hide beneath the false outer skin. It will be like the efforts of northern candidates to break the “solid south” and keep it broken. The time has not come for its accomplishment. We are very near the time for the re-alignment of political parties. The issues have shifted.
There is a deep political game being played both in Washington and in other sections of the country. Anyone who is simple enough to believe that Mr. Roosevelt is making these “grand stand plays” simply for the dear people, is badly mistaken. He is a politician and a statesman and men of this kind are always backed and encouraged by the organized interests that they represent. The distinguished occupant of the White House has been championing the cause of the shippers and he has attacked the moneyed interests of the country, but there is “method in his madness.” When he espoused the cause of one candidate as against all of the others, we think we see his finish as a political quantity in a nominating convention.
Everything will be Roosevelt until the opportune time comes and then the casting aside of a cloak will reveal an organization pledged and to place candidates thereon that will obey the sovereign voice of the Party.
Two acts of President Roosevelt will stand out as the most remarkable in the history of any administration and will tend to give President Roosevelt a unique standing in the political history of this country.
One of his open endorsation and championship of the candidacy of Secretary of War William H. Taft of Ohio and the other is the naming of Ex-Senator Marion Butler as the political referee for the Southland. Mr. Butler is a Democrat and a Populist. In fact, he is well-nigh everything but a Republican.
Secretary Taft is a jurist with political leaning and his disposition to obey orders has made him a popular favorite with the occupant of the White House. If Mr. Taft is President, the presumption is that President Roosevelt will be President, even though he does not hold the office. At the completion of his term, he will be in the position to use the machinery of the government in a way that will guarantee President Roosevelt’s return to the White House.
Mr. Roosevelt is anxious for a “big fight” and he now has one on his hands. There is not power enough in earth at his disposal to enable him to dominate the next National Republican Convention to the extent of naming a man so close to him as is Secretary Taft. He must go up against the field to do it and Secretary Taft will hold in his hand only the borrowed light of the Chief Executive.
Roosevelt delegates will not stand even a slight scratching before it will be ascertained that there is an anti-Roosevelt hide beneath the false outer skin. It will be like the efforts of northern candidates to break the “solid south” and keep it broken. The time has not come for its accomplishment. We are very near the time for the re-alignment of political parties. The issues have shifted.
There is a deep political game being played both in Washington and in other sections of the country. Anyone who is simple enough to believe that Mr. Roosevelt is making these “grand stand plays” simply for the dear people, is badly mistaken. He is a politician and a statesman and men of this kind are always backed and encouraged by the organized interests that they represent. The distinguished occupant of the White House has been championing the cause of the shippers and he has attacked the moneyed interests of the country, but there is “method in his madness.” When he espoused the cause of one candidate as against all of the others, we think we see his finish as a political quantity in a nominating convention.
Everything will be Roosevelt until the opportune time comes and then the casting aside of a cloak will reveal an organization pledged and to place candidates thereon that will obey the sovereign voice of the Party.
About this article
Source
Location on Page
Upper Right Quadrant
Topic
Contributed By
Benton Camper
Citation
“The Political Situation,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed February 19, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/491.